As Women of the ELCA, we are prepared to lead boldly — first the church and then beyond — in promoting women's complete and total health: physical, emotional, and spiritual. So we may foster this initiative, our grants program in 2007 focused funding toward projects and agencies dedicated to education, health care, and advocacy, emboldening women and girls to lead healthier lives. These grants are one way in which we respond to God's call for justice and an abundant life.

As a churchwide community of women, some of our most powerful resources are the financial offerings we give in support of our organizational commitment to "promote healing and wholeness in the church, the society, and the world." Because of generous gifts from Women of the ELCA participants, the grants program has been able to award more than $3 million since 1988.

The needs and challenges remain great. You may help support the grants program with a monetary gift or through a planned gift. Send your donation or inquiry about planned giving to the address at right.

Click here for a print-friendly version of the following list of recipients.

Women of the ELCA Grants Program 
2007 Grant Recipients

DOMESTIC GRANTS
REGION 1
Mary Magdalene Home Alaska (1A*)
Prison-based services
$3,500
Support and educational programs and pre-release case management services to current and formerly incarcerated women working to leave the life of sexual exploitation.

Lutheran Community Services of the Northwest (1C)
H.U.G.S.
$3,500
Group counseling programs for low-income women living in public housing.

First Place for Children (1C)
Teen Parent Program
$,2000
Provides infant and toddler child care and parenting classes for teen parents enrolled in high school so they can remain in school and graduate.

REGION 2
ASU Breaking the Cycle Community Health Care (2D)
Family Planning Services
$2,500
Provides family planning services and reproductive health care to vulnerable uninsured women.

Lutheran Social Service of Utah (2E)
More Blue Sky: Mind-Body-Spirit Health for Women
$2,500
Offers physical and spiritual health classes to first-generation refugee women.

Work Options for Women (2E)
WOW
$2,500
Job-training program for low-income and homeless women needing support and employment services.

REGION 3
Mitchell Area Safehouse (3C)
Moving Forward
$2,500
Support and empowerment programs for women victims of domestic and sexual violence.

REGION 4
People's City Mission (4A)
Mirror Project
$3,500
Provides healthy recreational and leisure activities for homeless women recovering from domestic violence or substance abuse.

Lutheran Family and Children's Services of Missouri (4B)
Family Foundations Project
$2,000
Program to train volunteers from local churches to help and mentor single women and their families.

Christian Women Job Corps (4D)
Job Skills Training
$2,500
Holistic job and life-skills training program for women living in poverty.

REGION 5
Advocate Parish Nurse Ministry (5A)
Bethel Lutheran Church Sisters Growing
$3,000
A social skills training and health education program for young minority women residing on Chicago's west side.

The Jericho Project (5B)
Bread Breakers
$3,500
Provides meals and monthly excursions for ex-prisoners, their children, and families to help them rebuild their relationships.

Turning Point, Inc. (5B)
Shelter Advocacy
$1,500
Provides crisis intervention, case management, counseling, and emergency shelter for victims of domestic violence.

Project Return of Central Illinois (5C)
Reintegration Services for Women
$2,500
Partners local ELCA churches with incarcerated mothers, assisting them in making a successful transition after prison to a new life in the community.

Lutheran Services in Iowa (5D)
Refugee Women Employment Readiness
$2,000
Provides women-centered service components addressing the self-sufficiency needs of women through a job-readiness program.

REGION 6
Bethel Lutheran Church (6C)
Bethel Food & Baby Pantry
$1,500
Provides expanded food pantry services including bottles, diapers, baby clothes, and women's personal hygiene products.

Flower Hospital (6D)
Wellness Workshops
$3,500
Offers educational and hands-on learning wellness workshop experiences for female cancer survivors.

Salem Lutheran Church (6D)
GEM (God Empowering Mothers)
$2,500
An empowerment support group for neighborhood mothers on life skills, health awareness, and recreation.

Shelby County Victim Services (6F)
Counseling Services
$3,000
Provides quality therapeutic outpatient mental health counseling to female victims of emotional, sexual, and physical abuse.

REGION 7
Trinity Lutheran Church (7B)
After-school Ministry
$700
Provides safe and healthy after-school programming for young children.

New Hope Lutheran Church (7C)
Haitian Women Empowerment Program
$3,500
Provides physical and spiritual health education to Haitian women immigrants.

Salem Arabic Lutheran Church (7C)
Women's Advancement Program
$2,500
Empowers long-time residents and new immigrant women on health issues, self-care, and hot to access the health system.

St. Paul's Lutheran Parkchester (7C)
Healthy Empowerment for Women and Girls
$2,000
Workshops on parenting, body image, self-esteem and more for women and girls.

The Shepherd's Shelf Food Cupboard (7F)
Mental Health and Life Coaching
$3,500
Partners the food pantry with the Penn Foundation to provide on-site financial, social, and mental health management services for clients and their families.

REGION 8
Clinton County Women's Center (8E)
Women Healing Women
$2,000
Offers a mind and body healing conference for adult women survivors of domestic and sexual violence in need of information and support.

REGION 9
Lutheran Family Services Shenandoah (9A)
C Club: Coping and Caring
$2,500
Free support groups for elementary school children grieving due to divorce and separation.

West Virginia Community Services for Women (9A)
Women's Centers
$2,000
Provides a multi-county resource database for young girls and women to access that includes physicians, counselors, educators, rehab specialists, and shelters.

Sistercare, Inc. (9C)
Domestic Violence Survivor Services
$3,500
Life skills training and counseling for women survivors currently living in an emergency shelter.

Lutheran Services of Georgia (9D)
A+ Parents
$3,000
Provides comprehensive support services to minority women with children who are at risk for abuse, neglect, and domestic violence.

* Indicates the region and synod (geographical location) in which the recipient carries out this ministry.
 

INTERNATIONAL GRANTS BY COUNTRY

ARGENTINA
Women's Secretaria, United Evangelical Lutheran Church
Renewing Faith for Spiritual Health
$1,000
Strengthens women's leadership and spiritual well-being through training and network-building.

COLUMBIA
Lutheran Women of Columbia Organization
Affirming Strong Faith
$1,000
Spiritual training and counseling program for women addressing displacement, gender discrimination, and psychological difficulties.

HAITI
Florida Bahamas Synodical Women's Organization
Women's Training Project
$1,000
Leadership, skills, and health education training project for the women of the emerging Lutheran church in Haiti.

INDONESIA
Indonesian Rural Agricultural Development
The Timor Project — Saving a Village
$1,000
Project moves a village from extreme poverty toward self-sufficiency and wholeness and includes nutritional supplements for children and pregnant women.

KENYA
Chelma Advisory Institute
Empowerment of Commercial Sex Workers
$1,000
Offers counseling for young women through business skills training and inception of income-generating activities.

Generation Women Group
Support Services for Pregnant Women
$1,000
Emotional support services and counseling for women facing unintended pregnancies and who are victims of emotional and physical abuse.

Pamoja Self Help Group
Relief Services for AIDS Orphans
$1,000
Provides nutritious food, clean water, and materials to AIDS orphans and caregivers.

LIBERIA
St. Luke Lutheran Parish
Vital Initiative for the Empowerment of Women (VIEW)
$1,000
Supports teenage girls and women living with HIV/AIDS through counseling and self-improvement initiatives.

NIGERIA
Mashiah Foundation
Precious Jewels Impact
$1,000
Provides four empowerment retreats and four 12-week follow-up sessions for young girls living in high-risk circumstances for HIV/AIDS.

TANZANIA
Mwamba Association
Nutrition Therapy for Women
$1,000
Teaches 50 rural women living with HIV/AIDS about nutrition-based therapy and how to provide better home-based care.

UGANDA
Bussi Women's Initiative for Rural Development
Bussi Local Poultry Project
$1,000
Improves women's health through economic enhancement as a result of poultry-rearing as well as improved nutrition due to availability of eggs and chickens for women and expectant mothers.

ZIMBABWE
Bridging Gaps Foundation
Women and Children Empowerment Project
$1,000
Offers educational support and basic skills training for HIV/AIDS infected girls and women.